Big Tobacco Reaches Settlement

Subsidiaries for Imperial Brands and Altria jointly filed to end two patent infringement lawsuits even as Reynolds American Inc. has made progress in challenges to two of Imperial’s e-cigarette patents.

Altria Group’s Nu Mark LLC and Imperial Brands’ Fontem Ventures B.V., filed a joint stipulation in the US District Court in early January for the Middle District of North Carolina to dismiss two suits brought by Fontem against Nu Mark last year. Fontem also sought a cut from sales of NuMark’s MarkTen XL and Green Smoke brands. Fontem and Altria told the court they had reached a settlement. However, three other patent infringement lawsuits filed last year by Fontem against Reynolds’s subsidiary R.J. Reynolds Vapor Co., seeking royalties on revenue from its Vuse Solo e-cigarettes, remain ongoing in the same federal court.